FEBRUARY 14, 2024 — The UTSA Honors College has achieved a record enrollment after building partnerships across the university and city to create more than a dozen on-ramps into the college. This enhanced accessibility is enabling a greater number of high-achieving Roadrunners to benefit from the honors experience and graduate with honors.
In alignment with the university’s record fall enrollment, the UTSA Honors College welcomed its largest incoming class of 574 students and is topping an enrollment that now exceeds 2,000 students. Over the past five years, the number of students in the Honors College has grown by 75%.
“The UTSA Honors Experience helps students design their life and career paths based on their passions and academic interests,” said Jill Fleuriet, UTSA vice provost for honors education. “We are committed to making an honors education more accessible to prospective and current Roadrunners who want more high-impact learning experiences like research, internships, service-learning, entrepreneurship, study abroad, leadership training and other skill-developing opportunities. An Honors education at UTSA is about discovering your passions and achieving your highest potential.”
For more than 20 years, the Honors College has nurtured academically driven and diverse student leaders who are on a mission to chart their own path and change the world.
The college’s experience-based curriculum and programs help students expand their knowledge, explore career opportunities, and develop as adaptable leaders and public servants, giving them a competitive advantage in today’s workforce. The following internship-based programs, which are open to all UTSA students, are aligned with the university’s mission to prepare career-ready Roadrunners:
Students who participate in these programs are eligible to become a member of the Honors College if they are not already, and their experiences count toward UTSA’s requirements to graduate from the Honors College.
The Honors College has also developed several admission-based programs.
Starting in Fall 2024, UTSA will accept its first cohort of Texas Leadership Scholars. Supported by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, this premier statewide scholarship provides students financial support to attend more than two dozen top Texas public universities.
UTSA’s Texas Leadership Scholars will be recognized as one of the special scholar programs housed within the Honors College along with the Top Scholars and Terry Scholars. As such, they will enjoy unique leadership development programming, study abroad and research opportunities, and live on campus in the special scholars wing of the Honors Residential College during their first year.
Also beginning fall 2024, the UTSA Honors College will offer direct admission to high-achieving students from San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) who choose to come to UTSA due to the recently announced SAISD to UTSA admission pipeline program.
Since fall 2021, the college has partnered with the division of Strategic Enrollment to align its admission of first-year and transfer students with the university’s merit-based Distinguished Presidential Scholarship and Distinguished Transfer Scholarship, respectively. Incoming awardees of either scholarship are now automatically admitted into the Honors College. This strategic alignment alone has greatly streamlined the honors admissions process, resulting in approximately 160 more honors students annually.
Additionally, the Honors College hosts two of the university’s premier competitive, merit-based scholar programs, which draw top students from across Texas to UTSA.
Now in its 10th year, the UTSA Top Scholar program admits 10 remarkable students each fall. In addition to providing comprehensive funding, the program offers academic, personal and professional exploration opportunities to help Top Scholars develop into the country’s next generation of leaders.
The service-oriented Terry Scholars at UTSA recruits another group of highly accomplished and community-engaged students to the university. UTSA is one of 13 public universities in Texas to host Terry Scholars, a competitive scholarship program supported by the Terry Foundation, the largest private source of educational scholarships in the state. UTSA welcomes between 12 and 24 Terry Scholars each fall.
Lastly, the college also partners with San Antonio College to welcome any incoming transfer students who graduate from the San Antonio College (SAC) Honors Academy into the Honors College. On average, about 10 SAC Honors Academy graduates join the UTSA Honors College each semester.
To help more current UTSA students gain access to the benefits of an honors education, the college is also working on expanding its partnerships with the university’s academic colleges to develop, streamline and enhance college-based honors programs.
Currently, there are honors programs within the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Sciences, and the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design. The Honors College is working with the College for Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy and the College of Liberal and Fine Arts to develop honors programs for students in those colleges.
The UTSA Honors College offers one of the most unique experiential honors curricula in the nation. Honors students participate in hands-on, project-based learning that they can customize to fit their goals. With a combination of courses and signature experiences, students can graduate with honors without adding significant additional coursework or delaying graduation.
Other benefits of being in the Honors College include priority registration, small classes with top faculty, access to additional scholarships, dedicated academic advising, and regular social and academic activities. In addition, all first-year Honors students receive a housing scholarship of up to $1,500 to live on campus in dedicated honors housing.
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At this memorable celebration, UTSA graduates will be introduced one-by-one to cross the stage and accept their doctoral degrees.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusRoadrunner Walk is an event for graduating students to have a memorable walk on campus to celebrate an important milestone and their achievements. Graduates will walk along the Paseo while being celebrated by the UTSA community, friends, and family members.
Student Union Paseo, Main CampusJoin us for a tribute to Willie Velásquez, honoring the legacy of Willie Velásquez, a pivotal figure in shaping the history of Latino and Hispanic participation in the American voting process. Delve into his life and contributions as a champion of Latino voting rights. Moderated by UTSA's Teresa Niño, the event will feature influential voices, including Jane Velásquez, María Antonietta Berriozábal, Dora Oliva, and Anthony Gonzales.
Buena Vista Building, Gregory Luna Room, Downtown CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St.Celebrate the accomplishments of Alvarez College of Business, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St.The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
